The way that took me to Morocco and the things that journey led to are quite random. Sometimes your life events just connect in a weird way. My trip started with a riding tour in the desert and ended with finding the love for surfing. I didn’t plan much, and I guess that is the trick of life sometimes.

Since I’m working as a tour guide in the very north of Sweden I felt like I wanted to try something similar to our horseback tours, but still not the same. I started to go through different horseback holidays around the world. I wanted to find a destination that was completely different from anything I’ve seen before. What I ended up with was Morocco, the Sahara desert, just on the border to Algeria.

I flew into Marrakech, from there I went straight by car to Ouarzazate. We drove over the Atlas mountains and that car ride was in itself an amazing experience, such a beautiful and dramatic mountain area…

The day after was the start of the one-week long riding trip through the desert. “My horse” was a beautiful dark brown stallion named Tissir. That was the most powerful horse I have ever ridden. The first ride was a bit uncontrolled but when we got to know each other everything worked perfectly. We crossed flat dry areas, steep mountains, sand dunes, small Berber villages and palm oases. We slept in big tents or for some nights, under the star-filled desert sky. The whole week was really amazing, a funny group, great scenery and friendly people along the way. A big highlight was definitely the fast gallops over the open areas.

My plans for the week after the riding tour was not really set but I was thinking about going to the coast and then Marrakech. I also thought about trying surfing, just for one day, to try it. During the riding tour, it turned out that a girl in my group was going to a surf camp right on banana beach in Taghazout. The place sounded great and I decided to join her.

I arrived at the camp (Zen surf) and joined my first surf lesson ever. After that day, I was stuck. My plans changed and I decided to stay for a week to learn surfing. I never thought about learning surfing earlier but I have always loved being in the water. I felt like I got the hang of it pretty quickly and I just loved the feeling. If I was going to explain the feeling of surfing I would say it’s a mix of relaxation, adrenaline and being smashed. Sometimes when you get caught in a big wave it feels like you’re a sock in a washing machine…no control at all. That feeling makes you humble to the power of nature. At other moments when the ocean is being a bit more gentle to you, you can sit on your board and just watch the horizon, that’s like meditation. And at last, the best feeling, when you manage to catch and ride a good wave - being one with the energy of the ocean.

In the end, I stayed some extra days at the surf camp and had only one night in Marrakech. It’s a cool city with so much culture and things going on so I recommend to see it once at least.

All in all, this trip was full of unexpected things and what I experienced in Morocco was so different from everything I have done before. An amazing journey.